Technical Field
This invention pertains generally to a wireless communication system and software applications for use in a healthcare patient care setting. More specifically, the invention pertains to a platform for using wearable devices to provide patient care.
Description of the Related Art
Healthcare facilities rely on nurses and nurse assistants to provide timely and compassionate care. Current facilities use call buttons which, when depressed by a patient in need of assistance, send a signal to a central nursing station. Existing call button systems pose several problems for the patient and nurse alike. Most critically, they are tethered to the bed or to the wall near the bed, and thus can result in the call button being out of reach if the patient is not in bed when they need help. Further, the signal is sent to a central nursing station which may not be currently staffed (e.g. all the nurses may be occupied with other patients), or may be staffed by an administrator who registers the call but does not directly respond to the call. That is, the administrator may route the call to a nurse or may turn on a call light outside the patient's room. In both scenarios, there is no information regarding whether a nurse has been allocated to the call or is available to respond to the call, and there is no tracking of when the call was answered or even if the call was answered. All of this increases the response time, effects the patient experience, and delays patient care.
Additionally, the current call button system has no way to track call response times or provide dynamic feedback regarding response times. Further, such systems do not provide administrators with information on patient acuity, which is the categorization of a patient according to an assessment of their nursing care requirements. Staffing issues have long been of concern at most health care facilities, and can influence the safety of both the patient and the nurse. There is a strong relationship between adequate nurse-to-patient ratios and improved patient outcomes. Rising patient acuity and shortened hospital stays have contributed to these challenges. Additionally, current call button systems do not allow anonymous patient driven feedback on the kind of care they received for the type of request raised.
Wearable smart devices, such as smart watches, have been a source of much recent innovation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,279,716 shows a smart-watch including a processor, a wireless transceiver for use with Wi-Fi, and a tactile user interface. The content of this patent is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Furthermore, where a definition or use of a term in a reference, which is incorporated by reference herein is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Such a wearable device in the care setting would allow a patient or caregiver to communicate from any location, a much needed ability. However, applications of such wearable devices in the field of healthcare are still lacking, and existing applications have not taken advantage of their capabilities. While the use of smart devices in healthcare services has been explored, they are still lacking in many of the same areas that traditional call bells are lacking. For example, European Patent Application EP 2784709 considers the use of a smart device, such as smart phone or tablet, to control many of the electronic devices in a hospital room, but ties such a device to an older nurse call system. Such devices also do not solve many of the problems existing in traditional nurse call systems. For example, there is no visible indication of accountability to others. Communications are paired; that is, one patient is paired with one caregiver.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that does not pair one patient with a single caregiver, but rather can allow any on-duty caregiver to attend to the patient, and without having to rely on a centralized nursing station. Also, there is a need for a system that can deliver a notification based on a condition, such as a patient fall, or to prevent a patient from being lost.